BioWare puts a lot of focus on creating absorbing and fleshed out characters. They did this with Mass Effect, where they offered a wide range of fascinating characters and they succeeded with Dragon Age as well.

The Dragon Age series is stock full of strong-minded charismatic characters who won’t shy away from the opportunity to make sarcastic remarks wh🍰enever the need arises. The sheer wit alone used across the game in d🍨ialogue and party banter makes the game highly enjoyable. Battling darkspawn and saving the world is okay too, I guess.

The games have some well-rounded companions with excellent personalities and constitutionsꩲ, as well as a few inadequate ones who lack the depth and development of other characters in the game. Your companions all have layers of personality and specific moral views that can either push them towards lasting friendships with you or hateful rivalries.

Depending on your dialogue options, you can gain or loose a co♒mpanion’s approval, which can send them off steaming an꧟d refusing to talk to you. Each companion is thus geared to respond to specific topics and events with fondness or disapproval. In order to befriend a companion, you must earn their loyalty and complete their character missions. These missions vary from setting up a certain Captain of the Knights Guard with her crush, to tracking down a companion’s past opponents. Each mission offers an in depth look at each companion and thus helps you to understand their goals and preferences.

Warning: there will be Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and Dragon Age: Inquisition spoilers.

25 Anders

I’ll be honest, I initially liked Anders. His desire to help mages and his affinity for cats, particularly Ser Pounce-a-lot, painted him as a good character in my books. In Dragon Age: Awakening, he is lighthearted and carefree, able to crack a few good jokes every now and then. But his naivety and pure ignorance in Dragon Age II turns him into a stranger.

Once his newfound personality arises, it’s hard not to dislike Ander꧋s. He turns into a Templar-hating self-righteous lunatic who believes he can change the world if he bombs a few churches and kills a few innocents; basically a terrorist. And there’s only so much he can blame on Justice.𓆉

Ho🌳wever, it’s hard not to pity him as he slips deeper and deeper into his madness and fanaticism. Even in the end, he has the crazy illusion that his actions were justified in helping the mages. This is ultimately his downfall💞.

24 Blackwall

Blackwall originally appears as a pretty interesting character. Finally, another chance to have a Grey Warden in your party. It’s been far too long since Dragon Age: Origins. But wait…. nevermind, he’s just a scheming liar with a fake name he took on in order to hide from authorities. 💧There’s actually a price on his head and it turns out he killed an innocent family.

Okay, I’ll admit there’s a lot more to Blackwall than this. He made a huge mistake and lives with his regrets each and everyday. One can only imagine what that must feel like. Still, he could have at least been upfront with his friend and ally, the Inquisitor. Especially after the Inquisitor spent all that time acquiring Grey Warden artif🤡acts for him, which was in fact just another means for him to gain more information on the Grey Wardens which he could use to fool people. 

23 Sebastian Vಞael

Sebastian is the Disney prince of Dragon Age. He’s got the striking blue eyes, chiseled jawline, and mediocre personality. He is also a contender to be an actual prince of ꧂Starkhaven. He has a few loyalty missions in which you can get to know him, but then that’s it. His awesome armour is pretty much the only thing going for him.

He is a brother of the Chantry and therefore never misses the opportunity to shove religious rhetoric down the throat of anyone who will listen to him. His devotion is admirable and it is interesting to hear about his views, but it is an overused characteristic and there is nothing else notable about him. Torn between returning to Starkhaven and his commitment to the Chantry, Sebastian is not an otherwise exciting characജter.

22 Oghren

Oghren is your generi🍌c dwarf. He hails from Orzammar, wh✤ere the Grey Warden initially meets him. His past is a sad one. His wife becomes Paragon and eventually leaves him to go venture the Deep Roads, taking his whole family with him. He quickly loses respect from his family and becomes ostracized by his community, turning to alcohol as his only friend.

His only characteristics seem to be drinking and womanizing. Though it’s amusing to listen to his drunk banter, it gets old quickly. He eventually settles down with his old lover, Felsi, and starts a family in Dragon Age: Awakening, but there is no real development as he quickly returns to drinking and feeling൩ 🀅sorry for himself. He is forever cursed to be a background character, forced to stand in the shadows as he tries not to hiccup too loudly.

21 Sten

Sten is a very intriguing character to say t๊he least. He is our first real glimpse into the culture of the Qunari. His views and opinions on different topics are shocking, yet educational. His gloominess is his main trait and he is apathetic about most things. This makes it difficult to earn his loyalty. Eventually if he trusts 🅰the Grey Warden, he will disclose information about his past. His sword means everything to him and once the Warden helps him find it. he will be forever grateful, or as grateful as he is capable of being.

Overall, Sten is a flat and unexciting character. He acts more like a bodyguard, paid to keep his mouth s🔴hut and beat up the occasional thug, than a companion. He lacks any real level of depth or enthusiasm and, though some fans argue that is the way of the Qun, it is evident with Iron Bull that not all Qunari are this monot♊one.

20 Mabari

Barkspawn, as many fans have named him, is the recruitable Mabari in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II. He’s easily the most loyal ally and will never turn down a good stomach scratch. Mabari are magically bred war hounds who are able to imprint on individuals, whꦛich allows them to choose their masters for life.

Mabari are incredibly intelligent and sociable, able to understand and respond to speech. For example, Barkspawn can understand when other companions talk to him or tease him, such as Alistair in Origins who calls him a cute and adorable moron, and responds by barking and growling loudly. Barkspawn would be farther up the list and closer to the best characters, but I’m still upset that he isn’t a recruitable companion in Dragon Age: Inquisition and that most Mabari are hostile in the game.

19 🌟 Bethany/Carv⛎er Hawke

Depending on your class in Dragon Age II, Hawke will have𒈔 one remaining b꧅rother or sister. If you chose to be a mage, you will be left with Carver who is a warrior, while if you choose to be a warrior or rogue, you will be left with Bethany, the mage. Both siblings play different roles in the family dynamic.

Bethany is somewhat naive throughout the game and requires the protection of her older sibling, Hawke. She is intent that together they can overcome anything. The inevitable Templars/Mages war is also more ಞinteresting if she is the surviving sibling, as it puts more on the line; if you side against her and the mages, she will likely perish. However, Bethany is not as fleshed out as Carver. Carver has a strong personality and a bit of an inferiority complex, making him obsessed with rivalling Hawke. Throughout the game, he grows a lot as a ch🐽aracter and eventually becomes much more mature and rational.

18 Vivienne

Vivienne is strong magically, as wel♏l as politically. Through cunning political maneuvering, she was able to attain an influential position: the personal enchanter and advisor to🀅 Empress Celene. The biggest threat to her position is the Breach and thus she wishes to aid the Inquisitor, so she can go back to her affluent lifestyle.

Vivienne represents the traditional Circle of Magi mage of Dragon Age: Inquisition. She is undeniably pro-Circle and her perspective is slightly interesting due to her belief that, without the order, there would be only chaos, but her viewpoint is ultimately quite narrow. She provides no new insights into the lore of mages who support the Circle that we have not already obtained from Wynne in Dragon Age: Origins.

17 Cole

Cole is an outsider. He’s that kid on the playground who doesn’t engage in any games with any other children and instead sits alone in a corner piling rocks. There is so much of him that we don’t know. He’s a spirit trapped in the body of a Hedge mage, which makes him extremely powerful, butಌ even he doesn’t know🦹 what to do with this power.

BioWare writer, Patrick Weekes, has stated that Cole was the most di🤪fficult companion to write. Cole is also the most difficult companion to understand and this ultimately makes him pretty pointless in the series. His storyline is immersive, but it leaves you with a strange aftertaste because he is a puzzle that is never truly solved. There is no way to forge a lasting connection with him because he will never be completely comprehensible to a mere mortal and there’s ultimately nothin🌄g you can do about it.

16 Wynne

Wynne is the grandmother of the group who constantly provides you with advice and is also always there to heal you in battle. Though she can be seen as a bit too mora🐻lly uptight, she is always available for a deep philosophical conversation and often encourages the Grey Warden to think about the future, especially when it comes to romance choices. Wynne is pretty lively and will occasionally joke about her age. She also isn’t as virtuous as she lets on and will eventually talk about her son to Alistair, explaining that he was born in wedlock with a Templar at the Circle o🅺f Magi and was taken from her by Chantry.

One interesting🌃 aspect of her is that she technically died but was then resurrected and possessed by a spirit. It is unsure whether this possession was voluntary or not, but even after this event Wynne continues to believe in the Circle of Magi and it’s ability to protect mages from demonic possession, which seems a little contradictory. Besides this, Wynne is a pretty fleshed out character. There just needs to be a dialogue option where she can offer to bake cookies…